A brief interview with Leonardo Pavkovic
of Moonjune Records
- A label for truly innovative artists, genuine,
challenging, "non-over-produced music" that cannot
be easily categorized into any specific format or
genre.by Steve Lefkowicz

In many ways, the music
and recording industry is in a mess. The big record
companies are busy looking for the next American
Idol type pop star that they can make a quick
buck from, while churning out auto-tuned and
compressed releases from minimally talented
performers mostly because they look good in a video.
They chances of finding interesting, exciting, new
releases from any of the major labels these days is
about as likely as finding logical and insightful
thought in a televised political debate.

Not likely to happen.

That is why over the
past several years, it has been up to the small,
independent record companies to find, nurture and
release real music, by real artists. Smaller
companies can find a specific niche, genre, or have
a unique point of view, and if they find the people
who like what they release, they can make a living
from it. They can probably feel good knowing they
are doing something worthwhile, at least from an
artistic or musical standpoint.

One of these small
independent companies that has a really well defined
viewpoint, and a clearly focused view of the type of
artists they want to release and promote, is the
small, New York based MoonJune Records (http://www.moonjune.com),
run by veteran producer, tour manager and promoter
Leonardo Pavkovic. Having just celebrated their
ten-year anniversary this past summer, I felt this
label deserved some exposure, and I took several
months to listen to and digest almost their entire
catalog. Capsule reviews of those releases will be
available here in PFO shortly.

Moonjune, who derives
their name from Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt's
famous 1970 epic The Moon in June focuses not
so much on a few very specific types or styles of
music, but more importantly, on music from bands
that Pavkovic personally, truly likes. If you are a
fan of progressive rock, progressive jazz,
Canterbury Scene bands like Soft Machine, or
Matching Mole, or more importantly, really
innovative, artistic bands who put their craft ahead
of simply trying to write a hit single, then you
should check this label out. What is also very
exciting about MoonJune, is that they don't just
look in the standard US, UK and European rock and
jazz venues for artists to record. They have found
great talent in Indonesia, South America, and other
places all over the world. I have over thirty MoonJune CDs, and find just about all of them worthy
of being in my regular rotation of music to listen
to.

With that in mind, I was
fortunate enough to have a brief interview with
Leonardo a few months ago.

Question PFO: Leonardo,
thank you for taking time to discuss MoonJune
Records with me. From your Facebook posts, it does
appear you keep yourself very busy. I think the best
place to start is what led you to start a record
company when so many people in the industry are
saying traditional record companies have such a
bleak future, especially one that specializes in
music that many would say is largely noncommercial?

Leonardo Pavkovic: As someone once pointed
out, the word "business" comes from the word "busy."
Despite my hedonistic tendencies rooted in my native
Balkans, I like to be busy all the time and to feel
that things are continually happening. As Soft
Machine once titled a tune, "Slightly all the Time"—that's how I like it. But I prefer to be occupied
with things I like, and I've always striven to
achieve a modus vivendi based on the motto "I like
what I do, I do what I like." I'm not exactly sure
what led me to start MoonJune Records—it happened
by, shall we say, non-accidental accident, and it
has now been fully 10 years since I established the
label. MoonJune is still not my main source of
income , but it is certainly one of my main sources
of personal enjoyment. To start a record label,
people need a lawyer, an accountant, a corporation,
distribution in place, publicity and marketing
staff, a publishing deal, and sufficient cash in the
bank account. When I started MoonJune, I didn't have
any of that. It may be true, as you say, that
traditional record companies are now in crisis, but
then I've never been a "traditional" kind of guy
anyway. Philosophically I do not believe in
traditions, trends, and formulas. MoonJune was never
intended to be a conventional record label, but over
10 years, with no prior experience whatsoever in the
traditional record business, I have learned and
experienced many things and can apply that knowledge
to raising MoonJune Records to the next level. I
believe that after 10 years of fun and experimental
adventures (which I have enjoyed immensely), I
should start a "serious" record company, but it will
still be something that represents my philosophical
and intellectual values. I am approaching a group of
philosophically similar progressive souls with whom
I would like to build a larger and more durable
legacy of what I am doing with the label. I do not
worry if the music I present is commercial or
noncommercial, it really doesn't matter. Mars Volta
do not make commercial music, and they sold
millions. Similarly, Primus sold out Radio City
Music Hall some years ago. And before he died few
years ago, Esbjörn Svensson was a jazz superstar all
over Europe and the world. So it's a bit simplistic
to dismiss all "commercial" music as lacking musical
merit. The key for me is to totally ignore and
disregard anything in the musical mainstream, as
that world does not belong to me, doesn't interest
me, and doesn't really matter. Not everybody is dumb
in the world—I am not competing with Sony, and Tohpati (one of the artists on my label) is not
competing with Lady Gaga. I will continue to do what
I like and to like what I do, but I'll upgrade my
approach. I have built the MoonJune brand name for
10 years, and my focus is to reinforce the name and
invest fully in that; everything else will come by
itself.

Question PFO: About your
choice of artists. You obviously are very influenced
by the old Canterbury Scene, with Soft Machine and
all the great musicians that came from that era.
What other musicians are your favorites?

Leonardo Pavkovic:
I listen to so many
different kinds of music that it's impossible to
narrow it down. Without doubt, artists like Soft
Machine, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield & the North, Hugh
Hopper, Elton Dean, and National Health are very
special to me. I am attached to the philosophy of
‘60s and early ‘70s music, and I also love bands
from the past three decades that are taking that
same philosophical approach to the music, which is
basically to put the music first, rather than trends
or appearances. Of course I like the classic
progressive rock that everybody else likes, and
adore bands like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and ELP,
but my four favorites from the progressive heyday
are King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator, Gentle
Giant, and Hatfield & the North. I really love the
whole Italian progressive rock scene of the ‘70s—PFM, Museo Rosenbach, Il Balletto DI Bronzo, Banco.
Then there's the whole ECM catalog, including my
favorite musician, Terje Rypdal, as well as Egberto
Gismonti, Jan Garbarek, Ralph Towner, Eberhard
Weber, John Abercrombie, Bobo Stenson, Keith
Jarrett. I also love the British ‘60s blues and
blues-rock bands such as Cream, early Fleetwood Mac,
Savoy Brown, and Alexis Korner, and the proggy
jazz-blues of Colosseum and Blodwyn Pig. I like
Zappa, The Doors, psychedelic West Coast bands like
Jefferson Airplane and Spirit. American blues
masters such as Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and
Muddy Waters. I love Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sun
Ra, acoustic Chick Corea. Jazz-rock, early Weather
Report, Return to Forever, Nucleus. Also Brazilian
masters like Milton Nascimento or jazzers like
Hermeto Pascoal. Or the Argentinian tango master
Astor Piazzola. The classical music of Bach,
Beethoven, and Bartok. I adore early Black Sabbath,
Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. And let's not forget
Traffic, Al Kooper, Paco De Lucia, and hundreds and
hundreds—thousands—of others. I like also a lot
of "new bands", like Black Label Society, Wolfmother, Owl. Most of the musicians I've
mentioned are acknowledged classic artists; it's
impossible to mention all of my many lesser-known
musical inspirations, there are thousands....

Question PFO: You use
the term "progressive" in describing the music you
specialize in; progressive jazz, progressive rock,
etc. What defines the idea of "progressive" music to
you? What makes an artist a potential MoonJune
artist?

Leonardo Pavkovic:
To me, any music that is
not purely song-oriented can be considered
progressive music. MoonJune is not about
song-oriented music but is about progressive music
that transcends stylistic pigeon-holing and operates
within an evolutionary progressive musical continuum
that places jazz at one end and rock at the other. I
tend to lean toward the jazz side of the progressive
music spectrum, or the progressive side of jazz
music. The first criterion for what I release is
that I have to be friends with the artists—it's
important that we have some chemistry and similar
musical tastes first, and then if they have music
that I like, I might decide to release it on MoonJune—that's how it happens. I really don't
have any other criteria. Also, I do not "sign" bands—all of our dealings happen organically.

Question PFO: How do you
find these artists? Some of course are already well
known, but for the others, are you constantly
scouting venues for talent? It doesn't appear that
many of your artists would be found in traditional
clubs.

Leonardo Pavkovic:
I prefer to find a new
band than have the band find me. The only MoonJune
band that found me is Mahogany Frog, and I am so
glad that they did; hopefully I can release their
new studio album once it is ready, sometimes in
2012. They will likely be the last band ever to be
"signed" on MoonJune in that way; I like to make
them special!. I do not go to clubs to discover new
bands, but as always, there is an exception. When
visiting Chicago in Fall 2010, I had a day off, and
a friend, a local jazz and rock journalist, showed
me the city and then took me to a private loft on
the north side to see some live music. Once I heard
Dani Rabin playing guitar that night, I instantly
decided to release his band Marbin's upcoming CD,
featuring his pal the very talented Israeli sax
player Danny Markovitch, plus Paul Wertico on drums
and Steve Rodby on bass. That makes them a special
case. I am not sure I would discover more bands in
this way, but you never know, will find them in
other ways—maybe by seeing their video clip on
YouTube, or through a friend's recommendation, who
knows. Do you think ECM honcho Manfred Eicher
accepts demos? No way. Accepting demos is another
characteristic of traditional labels, something that
doesn't have anything to do with MoonJune's
philosophy.

Question PFO: Who
do you feel are your biggest "finds" so far?

Leonardo Pavkovic:
Boris Savoldelli is a
vocal genius. And Dani Rabin and Tohpati are two of
the most amazing young guitarists I've heard in
ages, simply phenomenal. They have to be patient,
and hopefully MoonJune will rise to the next level
in 2012. The past 18 months have been a transitional
period in my life; also, I am now doing something
else and have a "real job" running another company
that philosophically is very different from MoonJune. But as soon as I am able to upgrade
MoonJune, the aforementioned guys will be among my
priorities. But there are many talented young
musicians now on MoonJune, like saxophonist Pietro
Santangelo and guitarist Marcello Giannini of
Slivovitz, saxophonist Danny Markovich of Marbin,
and the new Indonesian progressive jazz band, soon
on MoonJune, very young fellas with an unusual name:
I Know You Well Miss Clara.

Question PFO: You once
mentioned that you do not like retro-progressive
music and would never release a neo-prog album. Why
is that?

Leonardo Pavkovic:I believe I was
referring to neo-prog, as I do like retro-prog.
MoonJune is not a home for neo-prog, bombastic prog,
masturbatory fusion shredding, etc. I do what I do,
I like what I do, I do what I like, and what I like
is not what neo-prog is about. And I insist that
MoonJune Records is not a progressive rock label but
a label of progressive music.

Question PFO: Do you
give your artists full control over their artistic
output? Do you pretty much release what they want?

Leonardo Pavkovic:I only release what I
like, and so far the artists and I are all on the
same page. Is that giving them full control? I would
rather say that I am giving them freedom, not
control. Basically, I like all my releases, and
that's why they are on MoonJune.

Question PFO: I see that
your artists are recorded all over the world: Boris Savoldelli in Italy, Tohpati Ethnomission in
Indonesia, Soft Machine Legacy in the UK, The Wrong
Object in Belgium, Moraine in the USA, etc. How
involved do you get in the recording process? Are
you traveling all over for these sessions? Do you
have certain studios you prefer using? The sound
quality of the CDs I've heard so far has been very
good.

Leonardo Pavkovic:Studio albums are
recorded in places where the artists can
conveniently record their music, while live
recordings can be done wherever live recording
facilities are available. Sometimes I do participate
in the full production, as happened with Soft
Machine Legacy's two studio albums. My role is more
that of the executive producer of all the albums,
because all the artists self-produce their own music
on the artistic and technical level. There is no
mandate to use certain studios or mastering
facilities—it's done where it's done, and I
believe that 85 percent of all MoonJune albums have
a very decent or even an impressive quality of
sound.

Question PFO: Fans of
higher-quality music and audio, like most of
Positive Feedback's readers, have been getting more
and more into hi-rez downloads, like 24/96 or even
24/192. Considering the expense of manufacturing,
distributing, and inventorying CDs, have you thought
of offering high-resolution downloads instead of, or
in addition to, physical media?

Leonardo Pavkovic:After ending my
association with EMI Digital, I am currently
searching for a new digital distribution outlet. And
soon on my website and all my social media sites, I
will use a company that specializes in
high-resolution downloads. Downloads do not sell,
but hey, if I can make 20-30 bucks on each CD
through digital sales, welcome! I can't predict the
future of the music business, but I believe there
will always be demand for physical products. At a
certain point I thought that I would never sell
anything digital, which is why I left EMI DIgital
distribution. The only reason that I will return to
regular digital distribution and offer
high-resolution downloads on my website through a
specialized company is because that would make
MoonJune far more discoverable by all search engines—the more info that is out there about anything
related to MoonJune, the better for the label and
artists. I am not an audiophile freak, and despite
the fact that I do not like the idea of a digital
world in general, I accept all that. And even though
I love old albums and like CDs much better than
anything digital, my 2-TB external hard drives are
loaded with thousands of albums in m4a Apple
Lossless format. Why? I converted most of my
collection into digital format for the sake of
convenience. I still have my CDs, or most of my CDs,
but in my office I have this 2-TB drive and I can
play whatever I feel like anytime I want. It's a
commodity. I can upload whatever I want onto my
iPhone or iPad, travel to Japan or Brazil or India
or Italy, and listen to the music that I like from
my iTunes library. I remember traveling years ago
with burned CDs, just to kill my many long
transcontinental flights with music I dig.

Question PFO: As a
longtime fan of Gentle Giant, I am interested in
your connection with Derek Shulman. Is Derek
involved in a venture with you?

Leonardo Pavkovic:I have known Derek for
over 12 years and we became very close friends.
Recently he was looking to begin a new venture, and
he asked me to join him in early 2010. We have
really great chemistry between the two of us. I
believe that at certain point I needed to know more
about the world that he successfully navigated over
the past 30 years, and he needed to know more about
my world, which he was aware of but didn't have a
chance to explore. I'm not necessarily talking about
the progressive music world, but about my extensive
knowledge of Asia and Latin America and my ability
to communicate with people from those secondary and
tertiary markets on the same human level, something
that is missing sometimes (or often?) in the stiff
corporate Anglo-American world. I have booked many
bands of all kinds all over Asia and Latin America.
Also, I am an unusual kind of guy, I guess, and
Derek wanted to have another successful venture
before entering into retirement, something very
different from what he has done over the past 30
years when he was a major honcho in the big-league
music industry. Our new company, 2 Plus Music &
Entertainment, deals with different aspects of the
music business. So far we've had fun, and after
cookin' for almost a year, we are about to launch
several major adventures in the music and
entertainment world, worldwide. No frontiers, all
seven continents are our target! Of course, my
personal interest is in exploring more business
opportunities in South America, India, China, and
Southeast Asia, and I am starting a new company in
Brazil later this year, plus we are about to manage
few very big rock bands, cannot yet drop names.

Question PFO: Hopefully
after ten years, sales are doing well enough to make
the label successful? Can we look forward to more
releases from MoonJune for many years to come?

Leonardo Pavkovic:Sales are actually going
down as records sell less and less everywhere.
Digital sales in particular are pathetically low.
But I am "surviving." One of the "problems" with
MoonJune Records is that I do not have artists that
are constantly touring. The only way to increase
sales potential is if you have artists touring, on
any level; it doesn't matter if it's on a very
small, medium, or large scale. MoonJune Records
never was my main source of income, but again, I
like what I do, and I am glad that I am able to help
some totally unknown bands and give them better
exposure. For example, if the amazing Seattle band
Moraine didn't have their release on MoonJune or a
similar label, they would be just another great
local band, but I believe that having over 150
reviews in more than three dozen countries worldwide
has helped them a lot—their name and that of the
great guitarist Dennis Rea is circulating more on
the Internet and in jazz and progressive music
media, which enabled the band to be invited to a
prestigious festival such as NEARFest and also do a
nice short tour of the U.S. East Coast; we are also
exploring the possibility of taking the band to
Brazil and other countries in South America, and
perhaps to Europe and China. We both do not make any
money on the sale of CDs, but we can at least make
sure that our mutual investment is recouped, and the
band is happy, and of course I am extremely happy,
for I am not only a fan of their music but also a
very good friend of the band and especially Dennis
Rea, who already has four albums with three
different bands/projects on my label. Then there is
the case of several Indonesian artists that I have
released or will release on MoonJune. Thanks to
MoonJune, the names simakDialog, Riza Arshad, and
Tohpati are gaining their space, even though that
space is still the niche space of jazz and
progressive music, otherwise their names would be
confined just to their own country of Indonesia and
lovers of great music would never be able to
discover such gems and such talented musicians. I
would like to "gamble" with Tohpati, definitely one
of most interesting and amazing guitar players I
have heard in many, many years. For now, there are
already four records featuring Tohpati on MoonJune
(two with Riza Arshad's band simakDialog, one with
his ethno-fusion band Tohpati Ethnomission, and one
with his power trio Bertiga, an album that is among
my next releases). In the next 18-24 months there
will be at least 4-5 more releases—he is simply
phenomenal. I also hope to do more projects with Riza Arshad, also a really amazing musician and very
good friend of mine for almost 11 years. More
artists from this beautiful exotic country will be
on MoonJune, like Agam Hamzah Ligro Trio, I Know You
Well Miss Clara, and few more. I quantify my and my
artists' success more with these examples rather
than stating how many records we have sold so far.
Of course I wish records would sell more, but that's
not what's it all about, it's about great music and
the friendship I have with the musicians. I will
continue to practice this philosophy into the
future.

Question PFO: Well, I
hate to take up any more of your time, but are there
any other comments you'd care to make? Anything
about MoonJune, your artists, or the future of music
you would care to comment on?

Leonardo Pavkovic:What sets MoonJune apart
is that it is more than a record label, it is a
community, a family. I believe I am one of the very
few labels, perhaps the only one, who sends CDs of
MoonJune artists to all the other MoonJune artists.
For example, when I released Marbin's CD earlier
this year, I sent the band a box of all the CDs
released on MoonJune and said, enjoy the music, get
to know the other bands/artists on MoonJune, we are
all family. In this way the artists are able to
influence and spread the word about each other,
which works to everyone's benefit, and the seeds of
possible future collaborations are sown.